Ben Tindall, Executive Director of Save Family Farming, issued the following statement in response to the close of the 2026 Washington Legislative Session.
“As the 2026 legislative session comes to a close, Save Family Farming is grateful that several harmful proposals targeting Washington agriculture did not advance. But we are deeply disappointed that the Legislature failed to seriously address the rapidly worsening crisis facing agriculture in Washington.
“Prior to the legislative session beginning, USDA data made it clear that Washington now ranks 50th in the nation–dead last–in farm profitability. Washington farmers lost nearly $400M in 2024, and 2025 isn’t expected to be much different. That should have been a wake-up call to every legislator in Olympia.
“Instead of helping, this session sadly proved that too many legislators are willing to spend time making agriculture’s crisis worse by working on measures that would further cripple the farming community, while doing very little to provide meaningful relief for farmers.
“Thankfully, bills that would have imposed a harmful card check unionization process, along with the environmental crimes bill that could have been weaponized by opportunistic attorneys and anti-farm activist groups, all died this session. These proposals would have created serious new threats for farmworker families, farm operations, and the long-term viability of agriculture in our state.
“As these troubling measures moved through the process, one promising measure to help farming–House Bill 2616, dubbed the ‘Washington Farm Bill’–didn’t even get a vote.
“Olympia cannot claim to support agriculture while ignoring the economic collapse happening on the ground. It is not enough to say you care about agriculture. This crisis demands action.
“Farmers, farmworkers, and rural families made it clear that Washington agriculture cannot withstand more policies that increase instability, invite abuse, and push more farms toward closure.
“Washington cannot afford another legislative session where the priorities are so disconnected from the reality facing farm families. The next session must be different, because for many farms, there may not be many more chances.”
Press Contact: Dillon Honcoop, Communications Director – dhoncoop@savefamilyfarming.org